Comments on: The Commodification of Photography – Maybe It Is the Camera…http://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09/the-commodification-of-photography-maybe-it-is-the-camera/
Photo Industry News, Resources, and OpinionThu, 08 Dec 2016 03:51:59 +0000hourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.1By: studioMiguelhttp://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09/the-commodification-of-photography-maybe-it-is-the-camera/#comment-9589
Mon, 12 Nov 2012 12:07:47 +0000http://blog.photoshelter.com/?p=24739#comment-9589Further thoughts: The low-hanging-fruit is gone. There are fewer and fewer low-end jobs that a photo-assistant might pickup on the way to becoming a pro. Stock, is an option here, but I believe that there’s nothing like real client expectations to force learning. The bigger problem is how does one go from iPhone POS photographer to someone I trust with $50K in studio space rental, craft services and models for a week-long shoot? Despite the proliferation of ‘photographers’ (no disrespect to anyone), I predict a dearth of high-end commercial photographers is on the horizon.
]]>By: studioMiguelhttp://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09/the-commodification-of-photography-maybe-it-is-the-camera/#comment-9588
Mon, 12 Nov 2012 12:02:38 +0000http://blog.photoshelter.com/?p=24739#comment-9588I’m a commercial illustrator and retoucher:
An amateur can capture a great photo, it might be perfect for me, it might just be pretty.
A Pro can capture the EXACT image that’s in MY head. For a Pro, an accidental great photo is beyond meeting my needs and exciting. But I need REPEATABLE results, which which is where I think the professional photographer finds his niche.
Then again, this is an argument of photography as an ART versus COMMERCE. To keep my lights on, I need COMMERCE.
Did I mention I was a commercial illustrator/retoucher? 😉
]]>By: C.J. Sousahttp://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09/the-commodification-of-photography-maybe-it-is-the-camera/#comment-9587
Fri, 05 Oct 2012 03:16:00 +0000http://blog.photoshelter.com/?p=24739#comment-9587A couple of thoughts…
First, I think photography has long had the impression of being a “closed” profession, open only to the college-certified. I think the ubiquity of digital cameras shows that “the people” have broken through those restraints. I personally have no intention of ever breathing noxious fumes in a darkroom. My camera and computer ARE my darkroom.
Second, TV and the movies have inspired a lot of folks to venture out and discover the world out there. It’s one thing to paint a stylized version of the world with brush and canvas. It is quite another to have the patience and fortitude to search for that beauty which surrounds us.
Third, digital photographers absolutely reject the snobbery of the “art world,” which has long disrespected this medium and are openly hostile to anything that does not fit into their rigid template of what defines “art.”
Finally, that snobbery also extends to any photographer who reflexively rejects landscape photography as a low-rent corner of the profession. Perhaps the “gods” should come down from Mount Olympus. The world does not need another staged b&w portrait of a wrinkled, contemplative elder or rote NYC street scene.
Beauty and inspiration are everywhere if you look for it and this New Wave of digital photography has no use for approval by the status quo.
To each his own. Let us inspire YOU.
Peace.
]]>By: James Frederick Blandhttp://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09/the-commodification-of-photography-maybe-it-is-the-camera/#comment-9586
Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:33:08 +0000http://blog.photoshelter.com/?p=24739#comment-9586This is very confirming to read in many ways. I’ve been working with Carolyn J Potts, a creative consultant of 30+ years in Chicago, and she published an article for ASMP in 2007 predicting , point out the same trends. The good news is that people need good images, there are more people capable of creating an image at a basic level and the best work goes to those who know how to run a business and projects. The era of the client paying to be abused by a snarky photographer with an ego is over and we have to come to the table with real world work and people skills. Two thoughts come to mind – ƒ8 and be there [be physically and mentally present] AND the most important piece of equipment is still the nut behind the camera. Thanks for posting. Best regards, James Frederick Bland, Austin TX.
]]>By: Jon-Paul Mountfordhttp://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09/the-commodification-of-photography-maybe-it-is-the-camera/#comment-9585
Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:47:02 +0000http://blog.photoshelter.com/?p=24739#comment-9585Those of us who worked with traditional light sensitive materials learned to use them to their strengths, high ISO was completely possible.
Focus is the most basic skill, as is Exposure, ( BTW the latitude of film was immense.)
That aside Auto-anything will not find you a hyperfocal distance and no camera will ever be able to place a light. Technology itself, is not a skill.

Everyone can use a pencil , can everyone can write book/create a Rembrandt .?
This is all the change in Tech is. Paint at one time was hand ground, restricting its use to those who could afford a person to do said grinding. Then it became cheaper ( like camera’s ) The skills do not reside within the materials but with the person wielding them.

]]>By: Allen Murabayashihttp://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09/the-commodification-of-photography-maybe-it-is-the-camera/#comment-9584
Wed, 03 Oct 2012 00:55:23 +0000http://blog.photoshelter.com/?p=24739#comment-9584@tumpal: i think i’m a better photographer because of technology for a few reasons:

– the cost of practicing/getting reps is much cheaper. i can experiment in a way that wasn’t possible before digital existed
– i don’t have to worry as much about things like focus because auto-focus
– i have more latitude in exposure mistakes because of RAW
– i don’t have to be an expert in photoshop b/c there are actions that can get me where i want
– i can take high ISO photos that were simply impossible with film

does the reliance on technology make me less of a photographer? no, i don’t think so. i think because i’ve had the chance to make mistakes, i’m a competent photographer who doesn’t need the technology as much now.

]]>By: tumpalhttp://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09/the-commodification-of-photography-maybe-it-is-the-camera/#comment-9583
Wed, 03 Oct 2012 00:51:02 +0000http://blog.photoshelter.com/?p=24739#comment-9583i am still curious, so which one are you Allen? a good photographer or just another guy with fancy cameras?

there were times when painters can hold their own, but some of the guys in my town and around it are in for painful demise, nobody care about paintings anymore, they can download any high res pictures on the internet, print it with personal printers, buy some plastic frame and be done with it.

for the painters around here, there seems to be no business model left to try, not even when they abdicate themselves under some wealthy businessmen.

painters, and chefs comes to that, in my opinion have more integrity to show rather than photographers, it is ultimately not their tools, but their skills, there are no computer chips within those brushes and frying pans, cameras on the other hand have white balance sets and image controls controlled by some algorithms made by the people in the industry, they take some parts in any bytes of images we make. this is one of the issue that has been bothering me. and lets not talk about the lens purists among us who claim that quality pictures are just impossible to produced without those L series or golden rings lenses, any less way of taking “professional” pictures are just an abomination.

I’m sorry but i guess professionals are only about selling stuffs for money, there are a lot of factors there, from sweet talking your prospective clients to reading the color trends, quality might be way down there among our shopping list, that is, if we have the same assumption about quality with the buyers.

]]>By: WTWhttp://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09/the-commodification-of-photography-maybe-it-is-the-camera/#comment-9582
Wed, 03 Oct 2012 00:09:46 +0000http://blog.photoshelter.com/?p=24739#comment-9582(1) I was at a public park at a beach recently, along with maybe a couple hundred other people. Well over 1/3 of them were taking photos at one time or another. But I noticed that they were ALL taking photos in the opposite direction than I was! It was weird: They were all pointing at things almost 180 degrees away from what my lens was pointed at, not seeing what I was seeing — not even other “pros” shooting their portraits! I had to adjust exposure manually, I eventually had to brace my camera and shoot with long exposures, and I was shooting RAW and had to use the full dynamic range of those shots to pull things into an acceptable REC709 color space and dynamic range. But I got some awesome images, images that none of those other hundred people with cameras got.

(2) The Zacuto Great Camera Shootout this year incuded an iPhone up against $65,000 cameras like the Red, Alexa, and Sony F65. In the evaluation sessions, there were some people who got very angry that such a low-end camera was included in a shootout for pros against top-end pro gear. They saw obvious problems with the iPhone images compared to what the really good sensors can do — banding and noise in the shadows, obviously poorer range into highlights, etc. But I saw those shootout results projected on a screen in a theater (not just on the web), and I have to say that the iPhone shots stood up very well against many “middle range” cameras that many of us use professionally every day. But then, in talking with the guys who shot that video with iPhone, it turned out they had to do all sorts of things to get that level of quality out of it: lots more careful lighting in the shadow areas, much more careful exposure control (they had to use a hacked phone with a special app), and lots more post-processing for color and exposure correction than the big boys used. Even so, with the proper knowledge of how to do it (and the time to experiment until you get it right), you can get some amazing shots out of a camera costing $300 plus a 2-year service contract.

(3) People have had cheap point-and-shoot cameras for 50+ years. Film processing has been relatively cheap and easily available. Students have been graduating from art centers and photography schools in droves, far out-stripping the demand for new professional photographers. How much has a typical day rate gone up over the last 25 years compared to inflation? (Or, rather, how far DOWN?) So, what’s new? What’s new is that the cost of doing photography has gotten to be essentially free.

(4) Does having specialized gear make a difference? Sometimes. But if all the special equipment you have is an off-camera flash and an umbrella, why would I need to give you several hundred dollars to take my kids’ “portraits”? I can go out at sunset next to a white wall and take some great shots on my smartphone. I can snap off hundreds of shots until I get one I like. I can take my thumb drive down to the neighborhood print shop and get as large an image as I want — even without the internet. With the internet, I can send my photo anywhere I want as many times as I want and don’t need you at all. You’ll have to convince me that you can do something that I can’t (without my spending a lot of my time and effort or money) to get a really good “special” image of those kids. (Substitute “actor”, “car”, “food”, etc., for “kids” as appropriate.) You have to show me why the way you point your camera will produce noticably better images than the way I point my camera.

Photography itself has always been comprised of three basic things:
– ability to “see” (envision) what you are going to get when you press the shutter (e.g., with a certain exposure/aperture/focal length/framing)
– ability to light a scene so that you get what you need onto the film/sensor
– ability to post-process the captured image to produce the output image you want (on paper, on film, or on a digital display, or whatever medium you intend)

Especially for commercial photographers/cinematographers, add to that the ability to envision a scene in advance and work with team(s) of people to construct the setting that will allow you to capture what you envisioned as an image on a sensor. Sometimes you’ll need that $20,000 lens on a $50,000 camera rig (and the grip and lighting gear and crew to go with it) to pull that off. Sometimes you won’t.

There are niches (architectural/interior photography, or war/news correspondent, for example) where having a modicum of those skills can still be economically viable. It turns out that there are actually very few people who can do all four of those things well, including many who claim to be “professional photographers”. Those who can will always be in demand. Those who can’t — well, increasingly, we’ll have to go find real jobs.

]]>By: Commodification of Photography? | Dauber Art Photographyhttp://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09/the-commodification-of-photography-maybe-it-is-the-camera/#comment-9581
Tue, 02 Oct 2012 20:32:18 +0000http://blog.photoshelter.com/?p=24739#comment-9581[…] of theirs. Occasionally I read their blog posts as well, including a recent entry on the “Commodification of Photography” which I liked, but I think it missed a huge […]
]]>By: Markhttp://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09/the-commodification-of-photography-maybe-it-is-the-camera/#comment-9580
Tue, 02 Oct 2012 19:58:36 +0000http://blog.photoshelter.com/?p=24739#comment-9580I bought my first entry level DSLR w/kit lens two months ago and the feedback on my photos has been very positive by friends who encourage me to make prints/cards/etc. However, I know great photos when I see them and mine are not! I have no camera experience but as a web designer, I’ve scoured thousands of stock images and am comfortable with altering levels, et al. IMO, there will always be the premium art and commercial markets that can tell the difference between amateur/pro. However, like much everything in the arts (fine, performing, etc.), the mass public and lower-end markets are recession-affected, over-supplied, and “dumbed-down” in terms of lower acceptable standards. Branding and Marketing have never been more vital to photographers (and other industries) than they are now. You don’t have to be an expert – just perceived as one. Your great work isn’t enough. Evolve to embrace that vs. fighting it and creatively re-think your business model.
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